Projectile or war-head

Details Projectile or war-head Projectile or war-head

2003-08-04

2004-08-10

Carone, Michael (Department: 3641)

Ammunition and explosives

Projectiles

Having jacket

C102S364000, C102S517000, C102S518000, C102S489000, C102S491000, C102S507000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06772695

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to projectiles or war-heads to fight targets, in particular armoured targets, with an inner arrangement for the dynamic formation of bulging zones and for achieving large lateral effects.
In a plurality of fields of application for projectiles and war-heads it is also desirable, in addition to the demanded penetrating power, to achieve the highest possible effect over area (lateral effect) for increasing the efficiency. This is required in particular in the case of projectiles against flying targets such as fixed wing aircraft, unarmoured helicopters or other aircraft, which from a terminal ballistic viewpoint belong to the easier target classes.
In this field, however, so-called “hardened” objects appear increasingly, so that in addition to the high lateral effects partially also high penetrating powers are demanded. The same applies in a comparable way to other structures such as ships, for example. But also in respect of armour-piercing projectiles of high penetrating power, which must be achieved with increasingly slenderer and longer penetrators, securing a sufficient lateral effect during the target penetration or in the target interior is of increasing importance. These requirements apply both to cannon launched kinetic energy projectiles (kinetic energy projectiles) and to war-heads with kinetic energy effective bodies or so-called hybrid projectiles made from kinetic energy effective bodies and hollow charges.
Pursuant to German Pat. No. DE 25 54 600 C1 a solution is proposed, by means of which an improvement of the lateral effect of kinetic energy projectiles is achieved in such a way that by way of a forward core, which conically tapers in its rear end, the said conical end is delayed on impact and the subsequent penetration process and is pushed in between the prefabricated subprojectiles which are located in the rear, multipart core and accelerates the same radially either immediately or by way of a deformable transition piece. The function of this constructively sophisticated solution was proved both in spin-stabilized and aerodynamically stabilized projectiles (dart projectiles). However, the efficiency is particularly limited owing to the constructional requirements. Particularly where thin target structures are concerned they are not effective. Such solutions are very complex and thus cost intensive. All these factors strongly limit the application.
For the purpose of achieving increased lateral effects tests have been made with projectiles which on impact on a target either fall apart or scatter. These concern effective bodies with brittle steels or hard metals or brittle heavy metals, for example. Such approaches to solutions do not lead to very large splinter conical angles in comparison with the usual penetrators. The possibilities concerning construction and materials are strongly limited in this case too. Moreover, such solutions are preferably suitable for spin-stabilized projectiles only. Moreover, the penetrating power of such projectiles decreases drastically, so that they are only useful for a limited spectrum of applications. Such solutions are particularly less efficient in the case of thinner targets, which also applies to structured targets (multi-plate targets).
In European Pat. No. EP 0 343 389 A1 the projectile core of a discarding sabot projectile is described which consists of a relatively brittle central portion of the projectile core in which a relatively ductile projectile core pin is inserted which is anchored at its rear end in the rear part of the projectile core and at its front end in a tip of the projectile core. For the brittle middle portion of the projectile core frangible tungsten is preferably proposed, whereas the projectile core pin consists of a ductile tungsten, hard metal or any other terminal-ballistically effective material. The relatively brittle middle portion of the projectile core already disintegrates during the penetration of the first target plate of a multi-layer armour-plating, whereas the ductile projectile core pin does not fragment during the penetration process, but instead successively penetrates the following target plates and thus degrades continuously in its length and mass. The relatively thin and thus low-mass projectile element is particularly not suitable for achieving a larger depth effect or for penetrating deeper targets with a continuous lateral effect. The densities of the brittle middle portion of the projectile core and the ductile projectile core pin are nearly the same. A high lateral effect of the splinters in combination with a penetration of multi-layer target plates is thus not given.
WO 92/15836 A1 discloses a spin-stabilized armour-piercing splinter-producing projectile which is formed from a projectile case with a material of high density and a forward head element of the same material in which the disintegration of the projectile case occurs mechanically with the help of a pretensioned heavy material which is located in a pocket hole in the rear part of the projectile casing and a groove in the case structure. Tungsten powder is proposed as compressed filling material. This solution is as ineffective in thin targets as in deep targets. It is also impossible to achieve a terminal-ballistically effective compression in a constructional manner owing to the powdery filling material.
European Pat. No. EP 0 238 818 A1 describes a spin-stabilized discarding sabot projectile which consists of a hollow fragment casing which is closed at the back and front and a projectile tip attached thereto. An inert powder with a density of not less than 10 g/cm3 is proposed. The fragment casing is provided with predetermined breaking points which determine the size of the individual splinters. The fragment casing is to fragment after the penetration of the projectile and break down into individual effective splinters. The powdery filling made from tungsten is ejected after the penetration owing to the rotation of the projectile. A high lateral and, simultaneously, high-depth effect cannot be achieved with such a concept, as the invention is based primarily on the centrifugal forces of a spin projectile and despite prefragmentation the tungsten powder will not sufficiently break down the encompassing thick jacket in the radial direction owing to the natural hollow spaces. Moreover, the powder filling is intended as a replacement for the bursting and burning charge, with the high density being intended to directly produce terminal-ballistic effects.
A further fragmentation principle for achieving a lateral effect is proposed in the specification (JP 08061898) in which a reactive metal is arranged in a metal cylinder which reacts chemically thermally with air and water when the armour-piercing ammunition collides with an object. It is obviously intended in this case to produce a “quasi” explosion and burning effect by the special reaction of the metal so as to achieve a strong radial destructive force.
A non-armour-piercing method to achieve an increased lateral effect with a projectile after the impact on or penetration of a target is known from German Pat. No. DE 28 39 372 A1, in which a projectile is proposed for hunting purposes which consists of a massive projectile casing which is provided with a central pocket hole extending from the front to the rear in which a filling, preferably made from lead, with cavities is introduced. In this design the heavier material is located in the interior of the ambient casing and causes a mushrooming of the forward projectile part during the penetration of the soft target body. In this way the projectile is enabled to transmit its energy to the body of the hunted game in an intended manner and achieve a higher spreading effect. A lateral fragmentation of the projectile body or a lateral splintering effect is not intended, yet it is even undesirable. A similar effect is achieved with the prohibited dum-dum principle against persons.
With respect to solutions provided for armour-piercing projectiles with high penetrati

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